Threat to intervene in Qantas row

The Gillard government has threatened to intervene in the escalating workplace struggle at
Qantas
after the airline grounded five aircraft and cut 100 flights a week, putting further pressure on Australia’s already struggling $94 billion tourism sector.

Tourism Minister
Martin Ferguson
accused the head of the union representing Qantas engineers of being “un-Australian" for urging a boycott of the airline.

Mr Ferguson said the government would consider intervening if the dispute went for much longer, a rare move that would be hotly opposed by unions.

“The sooner the parties get in a room and sort it out the better," he said. “You can have a dispute with employers, but there is a responsibility on trade union leaders to never set out to damage Australian industry."

Qantas chief executive
Alan Joyce
announced the airline was cutting domestic capacity amid a growing maintenance backlog caused largely by a ban on overtime by members of the Australia Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA).

The airline was hit by strikes yesterday by members of the Transport Workers Union, which will be followed by stoppages by engineers today.

“Job security is not enhanced by this action," Mr Joyce said. “Jobs are being damaged, the Qantas brand is being damaged."

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday flagged that it would clear Virgin Australia’s partnership with Singapore Airlines, making Virgin a stronger competitor to Qantas.

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Qantas shares rose 1¢ to close at $1.57, while Virgin stock closed steady at 32.5¢ after rising to 33¢ intra-day.

But the stand-off with the Qantas engineers, TWU members and long-haul pilots looks set to escalate ahead of the Qantas annual general meeting on October 28, as the unions argue they are fighting to protect their jobs as the airline expands through its budget carrier, Jetstar, and cheaper overseas joint ventures.

ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas last night accused Qantas of leaking details of negotiations held in Fair Work Australia and said the union would today apply for the tribunal to order that future talks would be confidential.

He said Mr Ferguson was “making such comments without knowing too much about our dispute".

ACTU assistant secretary
Tim Lyons
said Qantas could apply for Fair Work Australia to suspend industrial action on the grounds it was causing harm to the national economy, but it had not done so.

“We wouldn’t support the government just wading into industrial disputes unless there was a compelling national interest . . . Frankly, the scale of this dispute is nowhere near that point."

Mr Ferguson, a former ACTU president, was speaking at a tourism industry meeting in Canberra and argued that the sector was already “doing it tough" due to the fall in visitor numbers caused by the strong Australian dollar.

“The message I’ve got from the [tourism] industry is that their patience is running out," he said.

But Qantas indicated yesterday that it would push ahead with negotiations rather than apply to suspend the bargaining period, which would close the door on further legally protected industrial action.

Workplace Relations Minister
Chris Evans
would have to initiate any government intervention, but he sidestepped the question yesterday.

His spokesman said unions and Qantas should negotiate in good faith, seek assistance from Fair Work Australia, and “be mindful of the potential impact of industrial action on the travelling public".

While suspension of the bargaining would allow a cooling-off period, workplace legal expert Andrew Stewart said that such arguments were difficult to mount.

He said such a case could be argued if Qantas was hit by ongoing total stoppages involving either strikes or a lock-out by the employer.

Australian Tourism Export Council director Felicia Mariani said the industry was already battling the high dollar, a string of natural disasters and a global economic crisis that was affecting the performance of its traditional inbound markets from the western hemispheres.

“Now the industry is facing the full brunt of industrial action that is having widespread impact well beyond the departures gate," she said.

The council argued the dispute threatened to hit thousands of small to medium tourism businesses that would be looking to the coming Christmas holiday season, when the industry had lost 16,000 full-time jobs in regional areas since July.

“Without a swift resolution to this situation, it will be the tourism industry that will struggle to bounce back, but for many, there may be no recovery at all."

In Cairns, Raging Thunder Adventures owner Fred Ariel said the local tourism industry was backing Qantas in the strike.

“The industry should take the short-term pain like we did with the pilots strike in the late eighties. We can’t be held to ransom like this,’’ Mr Ariel said.

“The effect is only marginal but it’s the reputation that is damaged by these blokes going on strike. It’s our reputation that is on the line and Qantas deserves to earn a decent profit and these engineers are paid more than an engineer on a tractor or a bus. They don’t realise how well off they are.’’

Mr Ariel said the ongoing strike was not affecting the industry significantly because it was in the shoulder season. “We are lucky we are not right in the middle of the peak season."

The Australian Hotels Association said the possibility of industrial action continuing beyond Christmas was worrying.

“The impact of this dispute will be felt by the entire tourism industry, not just Qantas," said AHA chief Des Crowe.

The stoppages at Qantas were compounded by thousands of Customs officers attending stop-work meetings yesterday and vowing further action next week as they press the government over a stalled pay agreement.

The meetings occurred at more than 50 locations, causing some delays at international airports, ports, cargo inspections, international mail centres and other Customs sites.

The Community and Public Sector Union claimed to have accused the government and Australian Public Service Commission of undermining negotiations as they seek to cap annual public sector pay increases at 3 per cent.

CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood said the union was disturbed by reports that Customs managers waived passengers through checkpoints without using the usual PACE computer system, to minimise delays.

“If the government was serious, we could resolve this dispute today. Over the last few days we have made real progress in our direct talks with Customs but the government and APSC have rejected all of the potential solutions we negotiated."